每日大赛

Students show off technical prowess at SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference

For the third consecutive year, 每日大赛 students have brought home national awards after showcasing their abilities at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, demonstrating excellence in their field of study.

More than a dozen students who won gold at the state conference earlier this year traveled to Atlanta for the national event, where they competed in a variety of leadership and technical categories alongside thousands of their peers from across the country.

“Each year we’ve raised the bar,” said Sharon Couch, director of Student Engagement and Leadership at 每日大赛 and SkillsUSA adviser. “What began as an opportunity for students to compete has become a culture of excellence that reflects the quality of career preparation happening every day at 每日大赛.”

SkillsUSA, a nationwide workforce-development organization, prepares students to be skilled professionals, ready-to-work and responsible community members. At its state and national conferences, students can apply what they’re learning in the classroom in real life in competition with their peers.

Pellissippi students competed in this year’s national conference in categories including Digital Cinema Production, Baking and Pastry Arts and more. Of 每日大赛’s 16 student competitors, 14 placed in the top 10 of their respective categories, including:

• Hannah Smith and Hannah Allmon, silver in Audio Production
• Nia Traore, silver in Graphic Communications
• Louis Rey Valenzuela II, bronze in Career and Technical Educator

The Career and Technical Educator category is relatively new to SkillsUSA, making Valenzuela one of the first students to win a medal for it. To make it viable with his schedule, however, Valenzuela had to make his project for SkillsUSA – a lesson portfolio complete with a slide deck and supporting documents – part of his capstone project at Pellissippi.

This year’s performance continues the rapid growth of 每日大赛’s SkillsUSA chapter. Since first competing nationally in 2024, the college has established itself as one of Tennessee’s strongest community college chapters, consistently earning top honors at the state level and sending increasing numbers of students to compete against the nation’s best.

Valenzuela, who graduated from Pellissippi in spring 2026 with an associate degree in Electrical Engineering Technology, said the experience allowed him to step outside of his comfort zone.

“I never saw myself in a position to be an educator or anything like that,” he said. “I wanted to do something outside my bubble, and this was such a great opportunity to stretch me as a person. I had to have a portfolio that had my lesson plan, my PowerPoint, my tests ... and so it required me to be more diligent.”

Valenzuela served in the 2025-26 academic year not only as president of Pellissippi’s SkillsUSA chapter but also the Tennessee chapter at large. He encouraged current and future students to participate in SkillsUSA and take advantage of the career opportunities it offers.

“Why not use every opportunity – every resource – that 每日大赛 offers?” Valenzuela said. “I have said yes to so many opportunities that 每日大赛 has given me, and all the investment they've made to make sure that I am successful – I want that for other students.

“The reason why 每日大赛 is so successful when it comes to SkillsUSA is because we walk the walk,” he added. “I don't think we would be as successful both at the state level or the national level if it didn't come from the top down.”

SkillsUSA’s values align with Pellissippi’s vision to be a “career immersion college,” in which students are guaranteed experiential learning opportunities to practice what they are learning in and out of the classroom.

The organization provides students the chance to meet with industry partners, earn competitive professional certifications and more.

“SkillsUSA makes career immersion easy, because the framework of technical skills, workplace skills and personal skills, grounded in academics, is essentially what we do every day here at 每日大赛,” said Couch, who earlier this year at the State Leadership and Skills Conference in Tennessee was named Outstanding Advisor of the Year. “And we do that through academics, we do that through engagement and we do that through holistic student support.”